AGAINST Deep Down and Dirty (Erotic Category)

Member Name: cmh4135

Product:	Erotic Category
Date:	20/11/01 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: free speech

Disadvantages: requires too much policing

The question has finally been asked. In these liberal days DooYoo has put the cat amongst the pigeons and asked, us, their writers, whether they should have an erotic section.

For me, this is a hard question. I am a champion of free speech and a believer in the right to choose. Yet I have seen the other side of the coin. I know what happens when talk of sex gets out of hand and comes into reality (pardon the innuendo!) I see what it does to people, lives unnecessarily lost.

The main concern for me if such a section were to be introduced is that it opens up DooYoo to a whole host of people who are probably left well alone. DooYoo is not intended to be a site for children and, in fact, children get little out of DooYoo in terms of payment (over 18s only). This does not mean that there are not children on this site - children whose parents might not be too keen on them reading about 101 things to do with a rubber, or position of the month.

Coupled with this is a concern that DooYoo opens its doors to those who would abuse such a category. People who get kicks out of reading erotica (more than just an innocent pleasure) and who may well take things to extremes. There could also be attempts by pimps and cranks to contact those who write sympathetically about a topic and "recruit" them into foul play. I am not being alarmist when I state that most people who are injured (mentally or physically) through the sex industry went into it in all innocence, thinking there was no harm in what they were doing. In fact, it is a short step from being made to play a dog to being beaten and tortured all in the name of a game.

DooYoo need to think carefully about the rules for this one. What is acceptable and what is not? If a foot fettish is OK then what about a clitoris fettish? We review condoms but is S&M equipment alright?

What about the current legislation in place to protect the public. Who will judge whether
something is pornographic? Who says whether an article falls foul of the Obscene Publications Act or the various clauses of the Public Order Acts? DooYoo will need to employ someone full time in order to make sure that the category is not abused. They need to come up with a way of monitoring who is visting the section (ie no minors). Parents will need to be convinced that their children are safe on the site and are not in the compay of paedophiles.

For me, the creation of the category wold cause more problems than it is worth. Even with a right of veto on category submissions, once introduced to the site there is nothing to stop people posting under whatever category they like (there is nothing stopping them doing this now other than the fact that most don't know DooYoo exists and of those that do it holds no interest for them.)

I would have welcomed the opportunity to have learned more about certain topics that would fall into the category of erotica. I remain fascinated by some of the things I am brought into contact with - but they are all things which I would not dabble with or wish to persue personally.

There is a time and a place for erotica and that place is not a consumer site.

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